a16z Podcast

Some people merely adopted the web, some were born into it ... but those who came online in the early days of the blogosphere were molded by it: They remember what it was like to easily find blogs out there; to debate and build on each other's ideas in more than 140 characters; to release experiments half-baked or think out loud in public; to write scrappily, not make pronouncements. And so they yearn for the good old days. But beyond a nostalgia for a shared past, what's really missing since the more "open" days of the early web? What's new that wasn't here before, and what can/should we bring back to make the web great again? From creation and identity to discovery and curation -- across blogs, social media, newsletters, and other platforms -- the guests in this episode riff, hallway-style, on all this and more: early blogger Tom Coates who was formerly with BBC, Yahoo, etc. (and is currently co-founder of IoT startup Thington); Matt Haughey, who had previously founded MetaFilter, one of the first blog communities (and is currently a writer at Slack); Benedict Evans, who has written about search, discovery, distribution, and platforms (among other things); and Sonal Chokshi. Perhaps it's merely the never-ending cycle of how all systems and communities evolve beyond early adopters. After all, more people than ever are online and creating than ever before... for better and for worse.